The Long Wait
by Ms. Authoress
Summary: She had fulfilled her promise to him. She did everything he talked about - everything he dreamed about, everything he made her promise to do. And now it was time for her to come home. He was waiting for her.


**Author's Note:**

**Hello fellow readers! I am fairly new to the Titanic fanfiction area, though I have been writing for about eight or nine years or so. A couple of years back I was writing a Jack and Rose fanfiction but I gave up on it for a few reasons, and just recently I was hit with inspiration with this little one-shot. I have a couple of other Jack and Rose stories in mind along with some romance stories concerning the Officers of Titanic, like Officer Lowe and Officer Mudoch, so I hope to get started fairly soon! I also have the idea to write a multi-chapter when Rose dies at the end of the movie and goes to Jack in Titanic heaven, and they are finally reunited. Let me know if you are interested in reading that!**

**Feedback is always welcomed, I crave to know your thoughts and opinions. Flames, however, will be ignored and if possible, deleted. Rudeness is not needed! Thank you and...Enjoy!**

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Her vision was blurred. She couldn't see anything but a dark abyss. The light above the surface was so far away and appeared faint, but yet she was not afraid. She felt no panic. She was...calm, she felt peaceful. It was an odd feeling, an indescribable feeling. But she was not afraid. She could not feel the pressure of the water above her head and body, nor could she feel herself sinking deep into the water. She knew at the back of her mind it was not her body that was sinking depth by depth, but her soul. Her soul had long gone into the state of peacefulness and had long slipped into the depths of the ocean, and though she knew not where she was exactly, she, in fact, knew where she was _going_.

She was going home.

And then suddenly, her vision became clearer. She recieved no help from a source of light; her vision, once had been frailed and worn by old age, had never been better and she could see clear and well. Though it was still dark within the deep waters of the ocean, it was not a complete blindness anymore. The water was murky, and emerging from the darkness, as if it was welcoming her, was a crumbled object. She could not make clear of what it was or why it was there, but it was there; now clear in her vision and emerged from the darkness. It was old, very old, beaten and covered in mold and bacteria, having laid there for many years, no doubt.

But suddenly she was inside of this aged object, and her feet came to the bottom. It was a flooring, she could feel under her feet. A hardwood flooring. It felt so familiar, and though it was still dark, her feet took a step forward and she walked, as if she knew where she was going. She _knew_ where she was going. She knew that for a fact. And then - everything changed. The floors and walls transformed; from worn of aged and decorated with the sheets of mold, to the warm brown hardfloor flooring to the white colored walls, light adorning above as small lights hung above at the ceiling. Deck chairs laid there among the walls, just as she had remembered. One moment it had been nothing but a shattered dream. But now - now, its former glory had been returned.

She was here. But not quite yet home.

She turned a corner where a door was open, leading to two other doors. Two gentlemen, dress finely and wearing a smile on their faces, opened the door and nodded their heads politely at her, smiling widely as she passed by them. She entered the room and her eyes lifted, and many memories flooded in her mind like a whirlpool in an instant. The room was not empty. Everyone was there, smiling widely and nodding to her. They were all there. The Captain, Mr. Andrews, Officer Murdoch and Moody, and Lowe and Lightoller, and little Cora and her father; Fabrizio and Helga, and even Tommy who stood to the left side smiling, his hat off and in his hand held to his chest. Everyone who had been there that fateful night - whom had died, whether trapped inside and drowned or refused to leave, or those who faced the harsh fate of hypothermia in the freezing Atlantic Ocean waters that night - were there, waiting for her. Every single passenger was there.

"Miss Rose," Thomas Andrews said warmly to her, smiling the fatherly smiled he always smiled at her, as she moved passed him, regarding him with a smile in return.

And before her, standing above at the top of the Grand Staircase, his back turned to her and staring at the clock that hung on the wall in front him - simply waiting - with his hands in his trousers, was Jack Dawson. He suddenly turned and smiled down at her, and waited until she reached the last step of the staircase before pulling his hand out of his pocket and extending it to her, and she slipped her hand into his where she was helped up to the first step where he stood. No longer was she the old lady that had sat among with her granddaughter and the eager expeditioners; no longer was the the woman who had spent eighty years alone with the secrets of that fateful night. No more was she an old lady, but again she was seventeen with her fiery red tresses, her bright eyes and her womanly figure, and again she wore the same dress she wore on that fateful night, the dress of which she removed that night in the car onboard the _Titanic_.

Jack smiled, where a spark of adoration glinted in his eyes and his lips curled into a proud smile as he stared softly down at her. She had long had the smile on her lips, but now her gaze went from his eyes to his lips, and as if it was by some force, they both leaned in and they kissed, the kiss that has been long awaited by not only her, but Jack.

A eruption of applause went around the room, but the two standing at the Grand Staircase were oblivious to it. The kiss was long and deep, and filled with much passion that had been kept inside for so long - his fingers in her fiery red locks that he had long to feel, her hand at the back of his neck, her body pressed to his. And then finally they parted, and even though they stood in the afterlife, they were breathless.

Jack smiled down at her, the smile she had missed for so many years, and touched her cheek with the tips of his fingers, "Rose..." Her eyes opened and stared into his own orbs of warmth and love, her skin burning under his mere touch, "Welcome home, Rose."

She was finally home.

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**Author's Note:**

**I have to say, I enjoyed writing this very much. I am almost tempted to write up an outline for a multi chapter Titanic story with Jack and Rose reunited in Titanic heaven, hehe. What do you guys think? Did you enjoy it? Did you like it or were you unhappy with it? Please feel free to give feedback, its always welcomed! And let me know what you think about my idea for the multi-chapter story. I love to write and I do love Jack and Rose more than I have before, and I absolutely love **_**Titanic**_** so I am excited to get writing on something at least. ^^**

**Best Regards from your humble Authoress,**

**Ms. Authoress**


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